In the Midst of Things:Sense of Loyalty and Pride
by SeaofDreams13
Summary: No one really knows much about Taiwan, but she plays a big role in the past, the present, and even in the future of two big nations: China and Japan. How so? ...well..based on historical happenings w/added romance to spice things up ;D
1. Panda: Chance Encounter

_My first time writing a Hetalia fic..so..._ meh, and I'm still not even done with the ones in IE aslkvjoej ugh but I REALLY REALLY wanted to write something about my own country CUZ IM AZN AND PROUD OF IT! Not to mention I was a bit angry that Taiwan never appeared in the anime at all, and she was only in the character intos. of the manga...__

Bamboo branches crackled underfoot, breaking the cool morning silence, and occasionally punctuating the cries of several very early morning, restless song birds. As a breeze blew past, the bamboo forest stirred and came to life; the leaves rustled and the birds broke out in song.

As China trudged up the steep hill that he was climbing, the early morning sunlight streamed down upon his face as the dawn broke and burst forth spill out golden light. The originally sleeping panda now popped his head out of the bamboo wicker basket on China's back, groggy from being wakened by the intrusive bright light.

Soon China came upon level ground as he reached the summit of the hill he was climbing. As China's are reached up to wipe the beading sweat away from his brow, Panda climbed upon China's other shoulder and admired the breathtaking view along with Yao.

Down in the valley below, surrounded by tall hills and forests of bamboo was a quaint Chinese village with a sparkling river that ran by the village's eastern side. Far off in the distance, tall rugged mountains, deep purple and blue in color were stark contrasts to the fiery sun slowly making its way higher into the sky. The oblique mist and clouds that usually shrouded the summits became transparent, dissipating the mysterious aura, but the grandeur of the majestic mountain range, rising high above everything remained.

Panda's hunger got to the best of him, and h started to squirm around hoping for Yao to feed him a bean paste bun or two, but the tall, long, brown haired man refused to budge form his place, caught in his own reminiscence of the past. Impatient and wanting to appease his own hunger, Panda descended down to the ground and went off to find some new shoots for his breakfast, after all, they were in a bamboo forest.

It was a couple of minutes before Yao was able to pull himself out of his reverie and remove himself from the spot that gave him a magnificent view of the new settlement that he had built just a year ago here in this new country after he had driven out Netherlands from the island. For the said nation had, along with Spain, plundering the beautiful island of its resources and exploiting it for their own personal gains. It seemed ironic that Netherlands and his people called the island Ilha Formosa when they had begun to deplete it of its natural splendor.

At the sound of his own stomach growling now, Yao pushed all his idle thoughts away and turned it toward breakfast. "Panda?" Yao called out as he remembered his little companion. "Panda?" he tried again as the little marsupial didn't respond. Quickly Yao scanned the surrounding area for the small black and white creature. Seeing as he was nowhere in sight, confirmed his growing fear and anxiety. Surely he had not gone off far now could he?

Deciding not to waste anymore time, Yao set off in search of his little companion, eating his breakfast of steamed meat and bean paste buns along the way. He swiftly made his way through the peaceful force of greenery.

In the dense forest, he was surrounded by a sea of emerald that gave way to lighter and brighter patches of yellow-green where the sun shone through.

Soon enough, he found himself standing in front of a giant dense patch of dark jade colored bamboo tall and thick; the bunch grew together, with the branches weaving in and out of each other forming an impenetrable textile like screen. It seemed to be hiding a clearing with in it. As China approached the tightly grown clump of bamboo, a soft tinkling laugh could be heard that quickly faded in to the old forest.

Yao paused for a moment, convincing himself that what he had heard was just a figment of his imagination as began to part the intertwined bamboo branches. He worked steadily and soon he had made a small opening in which he could attempt to squeeze through. Without any further thought he found himself in a big wide clearing of only grass with occasional small patches of tender young bamboo branches in which he spotted Panda lazily lounging next to a patch, calmly and slowly consuming his own hearty breakfast. AT the presence of his owner, he paused midway in his chewing and turned his small furry head to face the nation. China chuckled at the comical way his pet appeared and then attempted to beckon the critter over with one of his own buns. Panda slowly lifted his head and caught the scent of the mouthwatering food and was about to head toward it, but midway though making the distance between him and Yao he paused and looked back at the patch of bamboo as if thinking over something and then started acting reluctant to go towards China. Yao, taking offense to this thought that it was probably Panda still angry with him for not feeding him, reluctantly sighed and said "Fine-aru~ I see your holding a grudge for earlier this morning, so how about I make it up to you and get you something yummy when we return back to the village-aru~! I'll get you anything you want to eat? How about it?-aru~" in an attempt to coax the bear-like animal towards him, but what ever had caught Panda's attention eventually drew the creature away from his owner. Panda slowly crawled over to the small bamboo patch and slipped behind it. "AIIIYYYAA~! Are you really that mad at me ~aru? ." asked Yao as he walked slowly toward the back of the little green screen between him and his panda and peeked around out of curiosity.

There sitting behind the tender bamboo shoots was a little girl playing with the panda. She had on a small flowing pink dress trimmed with white and gold of various flower patterns on it. She had long hair that looked mousey brown in the light and on her head was a beautiful flower headdress. She giggled as the panda crawled over to her and started to nudge her and out of her mouth came the purest sweet innocent melody of her laugh. It sounded just like the one that China had heard before. As soon as she had sensed his presence her head snapped back, startled, and her liquid golden-brown eyes met his.

_. kslvjoej how was it for the first time? ne? . PLEASE R&R and tell me how you think! Dunno if I'll be able to continue or not..depends of if people like this . ...and I still won't be updating regularly as I still need to take of my dad who's still recovering. Good news is that he's outta the ER AND THE HOSPITAL! :D...unfortuanately he can't really walk rite now.. _ so...meh. R&R PLZ! _


	2. Naming of Names: Establishment of Family

_soooooo sorry for not updating soon . sdklvjoe school has been going downhill for me...so...ehhh...laskjcvioej yea don't be expecting anything from me._

_I will try my best when im not procrastinating LOLOLOL...yep... so ..enjoy! ja!_

Naming of Names: Establishment of Family Connection

"EHHH?" China blurted out surprised to stumble upon yet another lost orphan in a bamboo forest.

…_just like the good old days…._

The little girl quickly dashed around to the other side of the bamboo clump in an attempt to distance herself from the threat that suddenly appeared before her.

Getting on his hands and knees China crawled closer to where the girl was hiding hoping to catch another glimpse of her and coax her to come out. The girl peered around shyly, eyes sparkling more of curiosity rather than fear.

"Hello" China spoke in a soft cheery voice "I'm China, and who might you be?"

The girl stood there mute as China beckoned her to enter his warm embrace.

Seeing as there was no harm, the girl let out a light tinkering laugh that floated ever so lightly, carried by the wind and ran into the outstretched arms of the kind looking unknown man in front of her.

There was something about him that she liked, something that felt just right.

"What's your name?" he asked again as he held her small figure in his arms, drawing her closer to his body. She leaned in towards him and rested her small head against his chest, feeling his warmth seep into her. She giggled again as she crooked her head up to look at the man face to face.

"To my people I am known as Pakan. To the foreigner I am known as Ilha Formosa. What am I to be known by you?" she asked in a melodic voice. Clear and crisp like a crystal bell her laughter echoed in the surrounding as it was carried by the wind ever upwards.

China looked at her hard, deep in thought over the riddle like question the little girl had asked him. "Netherlands was right to have named you that, for you truly are a beautiful bud that will soon blossom into a fragrant flower, but I shall rename you Taiwan. Ne?"

The little girl snuggled closer in affirmation of her new name. She was used to this by now; having others come into her land and controlling it for their use. As long as they didn't disturb it, then it was fine with her. They general disregarded her, and didn't even notice her at all. This was the first time something like this had happened, and it caused her great excitement.

"Well then, let's go. I'll take you to my home where you can meet with all your other siblings." China declared and he picked her up and the panda as well. The panda he placed in his wicker basket on his back. The little girl, he carried her in his arms as she nodded off to sleep as he slowly began his descent down the bamboo forest on the mountain.

-Meanwhile-

"Hey when is big brother going to come back? ~Daze" began the round of questions a skinny Asian boy with a sing long curl directed at his older "brother".

"I don't know." Was the curt reply that came back from the reticent older one, who was quite unwilling to speak as he was working on his daily calligraphy practice.

"Where is he? Why did he leave us? Does he hate us? When will he come back?"

The questions shot out rapidly, like bullets from a machine gun. Young Korea's curiosity just could not be satiated.

The older brother, Japan gave a blank stare at his younger 'sibling' before heaving out a long sigh and replied, "He said he was leaving to take care of something, and will come back soon."

"…But he's been gone for a week now!" South Korea whined to Japan. "How long will it take him to do that 'something'?" he asked again in an attempt to appease the angry look his older sibling shot at him because of the continuous distraction he was receiving from a certain _SOMEONE._

Japan sighed again, but stayed silent refusing to provide anymore answers for he did not know of their older brother's affairs and he also knew that if answered anymore of Yong Soo's questions, he would only just keep add fuel to the flame of question directed at him.

"Kiku, you're a meanie!" Yong Soo declared as he realized that his older sibling would not answer any of his questions. With that outburst, he stamped out of the house and into the grand yard that surround it, in search of his younger sibling Hong Kong.

"_Finally…" _Kiku thought to himself as he put down his brush and started to rub his temples, _"Some peace and quiet."_

He stared outside, watching Yong Soo run off into the distant reaches of the garden, where their notably younger sibling Hong Kong was probably staring into the depths of a deep clear pool lazily watching the koi dance in the water. _"I probably need to go make sure Xiang will be okay,"_ the boy thought to himself as he started to clean up his work area and store away his small table. He got up slowly and began to follow in his brother's footsteps in an effort to prevent any of his antics from resulting in the CERTAIN disaster that was to come.

And that was how China found them later that evening when he finally returned home with his little Taiwan.

It had been surprisingly quite when he had entered the massive house surrounded by the neatly trimmed and well kept gardens full of lush greenery and life. "I'm home!" he proclaimed out loud as he step in through the door way of the house. Taiwan had woken up just moments before and was now groggily peering out at her surroundings. She had been taken aback by the size of the place. It was so grand and elegant. Never had she ever seen something like it before for she lived on a simple small island country with very primitive people. Her eyes came to life with curiosity and the sleepiness was gone in an instant.

China, on the other hand realized that his little siblings weren't in the house and was starting to panic a bit. "Kiku! Xiang! Yong Soo!" he called out tentatively, just to make sure that they weren't in the building. He quickly came to the conclusion that they were probably outside, and his conclusion was confirmed when he stumbled upon a note on the table that Japan had left. It was hastily scrawled, and some of the letters were unreadable, but Yao could not tell whether or not it was because of the haste or Kiku had forgotten his characters already and had decided to revert back to the ones that the nation had started to create. This aggravated him a lot, but he would have to deal with it; as long as they were safe. He was sure they would be delighted at their new sibling. _"…at least…Yong Soo should be…."_ He thought to himself as he stalked out of the building swiftly in pursuit of the 'lost' member of his family.

China turned to look at the small girl who was drinking in all the sights set before her. He nudged her a little to draw her attention back to him instead of her new surroundings. "WanWan," he began, giving her a pet name already.

"nmm?" Her attention focused in on him, wondering what her 'Brother' had to say.

"I told you that you would have siblings remember?"

"mmm" was accompanied by a semi-vigorous head nod.

"Well," he drawled out, "I'm going to take you to see them right now!" he exclaimed.

"Wahh!" she exclaimed as she clapped her small hands together in delight. She wondered what her siblings would be like, and whether she would have brothers or sister, or a mixture of both, but then she seemed to slowly retreat within herself.

"What's wrong? ~aru" asked Wang.

Wanwan fidgeted a bit before telling him that she was unsure of how to act among others, hiding her face behind her hands as she mumbled out her answer.

Wang let out a small chuckle as he removed her hands from her face.

"You'll be fine, trust me! They are all really nice people. Just be yourself." He said cheerily with a bright grin.

_REVIEW PLZ? . dunno if i wanna continue this or not. :\ the lack of response is disheartening. __


	3. Family: The Orient

_Okey, so as I was writing I think I switched POVs without realizing it O.O so sorry if it kinda gets confusing in the middle. I'm trying to work on this . suggestions? Slvjoesvljeoj Question, is it confusing if I switch back and forth between country and human names? ._

_THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO xAngelic with her helpful review and suggestion for this chapter! ^-^ (I wasn't able to put N. Korea in this chapter, but I mentioned him in here somewhere :D I promise he'll be in the next chapter for sure! )_

Family: The Orient

It took them a little while on the neat little pebbled path, that crisscrossed the vast maze like expanse of the surrounding gardens to actually find the rest of the siblings.

As China knew, they'd probably be around a pond with koi fish, surrounded by vibrant and exotic plants. The question was…which pond was it?

The area surrounding the house complex was immense. The amount of area it covered was vast, almost as formidable as the Forbidden City.

So, naturally most of the land was dedicated to creating a massive, beautiful scenery, and with that came, many ponds in various styles.

China decided to go off his intuition of where his younger siblings would be. If he and Wan Wan were to wander around the whole garden in any aimless direction, it would be nightfall and they still wouldn't have spotted any signs of human life.

"_Xiang usually likes to be outside a lot, but he usually just relaxes by a pool. Yong Soo would probably be bothering either Kiku or Xiang, but Kiku would be watching over Xiang, and making sure Yong Soo wouldn't be getting himself into some sort of trouble. =.=;; That boy…_

_So…they should be together. Maybe the pool with the sakura tree…"_

Taiwan skipped around bored.

As these thoughts ravaged through China's head, Taiwan blissfully ignorant of the problem at hand, went back to observing her surroundings. The garden was teeming with life: exotic plants and flowers filled all but the pathway, and among the greenery were weird looking bugs and birds of all kinds, either free ranging or displayed in ornate cages hanging upon various trees. Their melodic melodies blended in harmony with the soft lazy buzzing of the insects. The sounds made Taiwan think back to the dense forest jungles of her island country.

As China was brought out of his thoughts, he noticed that Wan Wan's attention had focused upon a lovely butterfly that was dark metallic blue in color. The way its delicate translucent wings caught and reflected the sunlight gave a sense of depth to it. Her eyes sparkled as she chased after it and followed it down one of the many paths in the garden.

"Wan Wan, Wan Wan!" China called out, in an attempt to get the little girl's attention, but to no avail. With a sigh, he quickly followed after her deep into the heart of the garden before he lost sight of her.

Fortunately for China, the butterfly flutter around the various pathways, lingering around for a certain amount of time near parts of the path when it split into several different offshoots, before cautiously selecting a certain one, and soon led them to a clearing next to a sparkling clear pool beneath the spreading branches of a sakura tree. The tree was of a good size and provided lots of shade to those underneath it.

Taiwan was currently unaware of her surroundings. She was fully enchanted by the glimmering butterfly that she had happened to spot. The little insect held onto her attention, making it appear as if the girl was under the Piper's spell. To tell the truth, Taiwan had never seen such a beautiful creature before on her island country. Yes there were butterflies, but never ones with majestic looking grandeur and beauty. She recklessly followed the tiny thing, allowing it to lead her where ever its fancy took it. Soon she came upon a lovely clearing with a crystal clear pool shaded by a magnificent blooming tree. She was vaguely aware of the footsteps coming behind her and quickly forgot about the butterfly that had led her there all together.

Quickly she looked around to get a bearing of her surroundings, and soon noticed several eyes on her. Shy and embarrassed she turns around to retrace her steps to find China. Unknowing, that he was behind her, as soon as she turned around, she found herself, face buried deep in the red fabric of his clothing. Instinctively she clung on desperately and hid herself within the folds of China's clothing.

China himself was surprised as to why the little Wan Wan who had just been happily chasing a butterfly would suddenly try and hid herself until he look up at the clearing that they had reached. That was when he saw his other 'siblings'. He smiled at them happily before bending down to attempt to coax Taiwan to introduce herself to the others.

Hong Kong was the first one to hear the tiny pitter- pattering rhythm of small feet on the path way and broke his intense gaze into the depths of the pool. His head turned slowly, staring at the path intently, wondering who would appear. Japan was the next to notice as the footsteps grew closer, and the sounds of feet hitting pavement became louder. He looked up from his little table that he had brought out with him to practice calligraphy, brush hovering over the crisp, fresh, cream colored paper, soon to be decorated with strong swirling black characters. Soon a small girl with past shoulder length, light brown hair came upon the path. Japan and Hong Kong were surprised at first, but both were careful to mask it as they continue to watch the girl. As she came closer, South Korea finally noticed her and squealed in delight as he started to rush towards her, causing her turn around quite terrified, and bump into China. Japan mentally face palmed as he put down his brush, getting up to meet his older brother who had come home. Yong Soo, was already all over Yao, hugging him, circling around him, jumping up and down, and questioning him. Xiang (Hong Kong) slowly straightened himself up from his crouching position and made eye contact with Kiku. Both exchanged knowing glances of sympathy for their older brother who was now trying to deal with the extremely energetic South Korea. Japan mentally questioned how Yong Soo could ever be related to his older brother Hyung Soo, also known as North Korea. They were two entirely different people altogether.

"Wan Wan", China whispers softly to the little girl was hiding his embrace from the ever annoying but always lovable Yong Soo, who is now bombarding him with multiple questions, shooting out of his mouth like ammo out of a gatling gun. "Who's that? Who's that?" Yong Soo asked over and over again curiously, bouncing up and down in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the small girl hidden beneath the folds of China's sleeves that hid her from his view.

Taiwan trembled a bit in China's shielding embrace, for she was not one for crowds of curious eyes. She felt like a small bird trapped in a cage, about to be presented to the multitude of unknown.

As Kiku made his way over to Yao in an attempt to calm the hyperactive boy, Hong Kong (Xiang) took it upon himself to meet the girl. He looked to be 5, so his stature was small. He crawled through the folds of Yao's long sleeves and bumped into the little girl. She let out a startled squeak, and turned, staring shock-eyed at the intruder. It was a small boy that looked around her age. His demeanor seemed very aloof and he started at her looking bored, though curiosity bubbled within him to know who this "intruder" was. Yao let out a laugh as the two observed each other, both too shy to make any introductions, let alone speak, stared intently at each other as if having a staring contest in which neither would back down. "Wan Wan, this is Hong Kong, Hong Kong this is Taiwan." China announced cheerily out loud so that the others would learn who the young girl was. "And this is Japan and South Korea", China continued as he lowered his arms and pointed out each person, respectively. Taiwan stared at them bashfully, but bowed her head in acknowledgement to each one as they were being introduced and each did the same in return.

Taking China's lead, they introduced their 'other' names to her. The young boy around her age was quite soft-spoken and she strained to hear his voice that whispered out "Xiang", and both heads bobbed in acknowledgement. Taiwan turned to look at the one that look the eldest out of the three. He appeared to slowly be approaching his teens. To her, he looked refined and elegant in a simple manner. Feeling her eyes upon him, his eyes slowly looked at her and a small smile formed on his reserved- looking face as he politely said, "Honda Kiku". Taiwan felt as if this was a rare moment that was not seen too often and she seemed to glower with happiness that he would open up a little to her. He seemed like a promising older brother whom she could depend upon for comfort and guidance. Of course, she could already see China as a fatherly figure and someone whom she could go to for support and care. Taiwan then turned to the over joyous looking boy who looked older than her by maybe two or three years or even more, but was surely younger than the one who introduced himself as Kiku. The boy she was facing now had a strand of hair that curled upwards on the left side of his head. His eyes seemed to shine; to her he had the appearance of an eager puppy, she could just see his tail wagging behind him, and she giggled at the mental image that it produced.

He talked really rapidly and his words seem to jumble together into one big incoherent thought. "Hallohallo!MynameisYongSoo!I'msohappytohavemetyou!Let'sbefriends!" Taiwan started to get dizzy as her eyes followed the boy that was eagerly circling around her. She looked around at the new people around her, wondering what to do. "So Taiwan how do you like you're siblings? Ne? Do you like them?" asked Yao. Taiwan turned her head and nodded vigorously, a smile played on her face. "See, I told you they aren't bad people!" Yao said as he smiled and picked her up, leading the rest of them back to the house. "Who's up for some dinner?" Yao asked as he turned to look back at the others that were following him. Between the silence of Xiang and Kiku, Yong Soo's stomach let out a loud growl in reply to the question, at which everyone burst out in laughter after a moment of awkward silence.

Ooooooo000ooooo0000ooooooO

It was getting dark, and stars started to wink from their sleep and fill the deep blue cloth of sky. Taiwan was sitting on a porch chair gazing up at the sky, waiting for the moon to rise. Inside was a warm bustle with Yao making a big feast in honor of her coming to live with them. Kiku was helping him prepare the dishes, Yong Soo, was busy tasting everything once both their backs were turn, and Xiang was quietly setting the table. She turned and watched them through the window and a warm bubbly feeling began to rise within her. She had never had many people to talk to or people to care about or fuss over her in this kind of manner, so she was still uncertain of what lay ahead. Yao caught her looking in through the window and smiled as one of his hands wrapped tightly around Yong Soo's wonder fingers that was reaching for a piece of dumpling that was just brought out. WanWan covered her mouth and giggled as she watched Yao turn to scolding Yong Soo, who wasn't paying any attention at all and was eyeing another dish that Kiku was preparing.

WanWan looked at the stars on last time, just as Yao poked his head out to tell her that dinner was ready. Her eyes focused in on the first star that she spotted the biggest and brightest out of the whole bunch, the North Star. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and made a wish upon it, for happiness to come in this new chapter of her life.

Needless to say, it was very energetic in the house that night.

_REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED ^-^_


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